Yes!!!!!!!!! SPS Success with Leds! Come in and Share your Story!

[Reefer1225]

Been in the hobby over two years. Always had LEDs (4 AI Sol Blues over my 90). Never had a problem with growth and/or color, but really don't have a point of reference because never tried any other lighting (MH, T5s, etc). I did bleach some corals that I attributed to underestimated the power of LEDs and poor light acclimation. I ultimately had a crash that had nothing to do with the lights (I tied a frag tank to my DT, massive swings in paramaters, ATO mishap, etc.). So, I lost all my SPS and am starting over. When I get new frags, I'll try to post pics and track progress here.

 

[turtlespd]

not a crash!!! in fact, the only change i made was returning to MH/t5s and all is well. take a look at my build threat and you will see how leds were a terrible failure.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2110638

If I did exactly as u did I would have bleached all my corals also. Acclimation under LEDs is not easy. You are 100% correct leds can do that to your corals but Any light will do that if u Treat them all the same. It's taken my self about 6 months. I haven't lost a single frag out of 30 but I did bleach them all out when I first got them. I move my lights 18" high @ 6hrs and all the corals to the floor and went from there. I did blame the lights ,lol but I looked on RC and there are tons of successful beautiful sps led lit tanks. I came under the conclusion it was user error. I refuse to let that little set back change my mind but I was looking at other lights but in the end after a ton of patience, LEDs when acclimated properly work very well.

 

[CHSUB]

If I did exactly as u did I would have bleached all my corals also. Acclimation under LEDs is not easy. You are 100% correct leds can do that to your corals but Any light will do that if u Treat them all the same. It's taken my self about 6 months. I haven't lost a single frag out of 30 but I did bleach them all out when I first got them. I move my lights 18" high @ 6hrs and all the corals to the floor and went from there. I did blame the lights ,lol but I looked on RC and there are tons of successful beautiful sps led lit tanks. I came under the conclusion it was user error. I refuse to let that little set back change my mind but I was looking at other lights but in the end after a ton of patience, LEDs when acclimated properly work very well.

i agree, user and acclimation are very important and some of my issues were "user error". however, i'm yet to see a led lite tank that has sps' with colors and growth like i've seen and had with MH; and that includes the tanks here, although some are very close. imo, the companies that are making leds are doing a lot of "guessing" and not enough research on how to design the right lamp.

 

[dknuckles]

Tagging along

 

[tdb320reef]

Pictures

Pictures

Here are a few pictures with the magenta stunner strips turned off. I think that is where I was getting the pink tint in my other pics. These colors look good on my monitor under a LED Lit tank.

 

[tdb320reef]

I started my tank with 4 T5s within a month added a DIY royal blue led strip between the two fixtures. Over the next several months I continued to add cool whites, neutral whites violets, and more royal blue until the 1"wide heat sinlk was maxed out, 30 in all if I remember correctly. I could keep and grow most SPS but color was never that great.
I recently decided to take the plunge and go all led, see sig for led quanity. I have only had it online for a month or so an I'm still ramping it up. All colors are separately controlled via my Apex and I have been running all but the blue and the whites at 95%. Cool white has been at 60%, blue and neutral white at 75%. That combo seems to give me the color I like but I still may add some more royal blue and drop some of the cool white. The beauty of a diy led setup and an Apex is the ability to change color intensity if desired and add or subtract leds. I have also been using the Apex cloudy feature which drops the intensity for a programmable amount of time, just to help acclimate the coral. Time will tell but I love it so far and my SPS look much better and are growing well!
Bored one day I threw together a web page about the build.

John

Very nice build and website also. Have you done a par reading yet. I bet that think is putting out some light. Id love the SPS you grow under that monster. What was your est. cost?

 

[clowndude]

Are those just with the full spectrum LEDs on or full spectrum and Apollo LEDs?

 

[tdb320reef]

not a crash!!! in fact, the only change i made was returning to MH/t5s and all is well. take a look at my build threat and you will see how leds were a terrible failure.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2110638

First I want to say you have a beautiful set up and what I am about to write is not to pick things apart but to truly help on getting the beautiful tank successful.

So on 9/12 you had PE issues and your corals were browning and it looks like you were playing with vinegar. 1/13 you describe losing your half of your sps to high NO3 10-25PPM in addition to running leds and an eye-popping 100%. 3/17/2013 you state that your SPS were pale and you have lost most of them thus going back to MH. 4/1/2013 you replace a MP40 with a mp60. 4/9/2013 you still have high nitrates even they are lower than they were before. 4/10 you buy a bunch of maricultured corals and dip the bases in fresh water… huh?

So based on that timeline since you changed LEDS you have lowered your nitrates and increased flow. I also observed that you purchased Maricultured corals and less than a month later you moved them at the top of your rocks. Furthermore previously you mentioned that you were running your lights at 100%.
So if you want my opinion and it is only my opinion:

1. You need to improve water quality and reduce nitrates. You P04 must be high even though you said 0 you had and unbelievable amount of macro algae. My cheato barley grows and even gets pale at times. Considering running Bio-pellets as a solution.
2. You were running your LEDS too high at 100%.
3. You don’t acclimate your corals properly and if you are running your leds at 100% and moving your corals from the sand to the top in a couple of weeks you’re going to have problems.
4. Some of the pictures you posted had flesh on top and nothing on the bottom which is an indication of Water quality issues and perhaps parasites.
5. You don’t appear to have a proper dipping procedure.
6. You are purchasing Mari cultured corals which people have success but the two colonies I purchased RTN’d in a week for no reason.
7. Final observation you have an amazing tank but you are making many changes quickly and not following best practices.
8. I am very confident that it wasn’t the light that killed the corals but would say led light at 100% will accelerate it.
9. Lower nutrients, More flow, and less intense lighting is what is giving you your current success but if you decide to swap out your MH and lower your intensity and properly acclimate your corals you will be successful.

 

[tdb320reef]

Been in the hobby over two years. Always had LEDs (4 AI Sol Blues over my 90). Never had a problem with growth and/or color, but really don't have a point of reference because never tried any other lighting (MH, T5s, etc). I did bleach some corals that I attributed to underestimated the power of LEDs and poor light acclimation. I ultimately had a crash that had nothing to do with the lights (I tied a frag tank to my DT, massive swings in paramaters, ATO mishap, etc.). So, I lost all my SPS and am starting over. When I get new frags, I'll try to post pics and track progress here.

Sorry about the Crash. Hopefully lessons learned with be the correct path to success. Feel free to ask any questions as we are all here to share success stories!

 

[tdb320reef]

i agree, user and acclimation are very important and some of my issues were "user error". however, i'm yet to see a led lite tank that has sps' with colors and growth like i've seen and had with MH; and that includes the tanks here, although some are very close. imo, the companies that are making leds are doing a lot of "guessing" and not enough research on how to design the right lamp.

You also increased your flow and lowered your nitrates.

You say " i'm yet to see a led lite tank that has sps' with colors and growth like i've seen and had with MH; and that includes the tanks here, although some are very close."

Are you talking about your old tank?

Lets be honest.

 

[tdb320reef]

Are those just with the full spectrum LEDs on or full spectrum and Apollo LEDs?

All Leds on with magenta stunner strips turned off.

 

[eyesolator]

Very nice build and website also. Have you done a par reading yet. I bet that think is putting out some light. Id love the SPS you grow under that monster. What was your est. cost?

Thanks Tom!
No par reading, I don't know anyone who has a meter but would like to know what the readings are too. The cost was about $750 - $800 + another $100 for an additional Apex VDM. The Makers heat sinks were well worth the cost since changing, adding or subtracting leds is a breeze.
I've kept SPS for a couple of years now and have pretty much kept them alive and they grew slowly, the growth I'm see now, to me, is amazing. I keep a really close eye on the coral for signs of lighting OD, so far so good, fingers crossed.

John

 

[JCastellano]

Tdb, on your generic led fixtures, at what percent are you running your whites and blues? And how far from the surface are they hung?

 

[tdb320reef]

Tdb, on your generic led fixtures, at what percent are you running your whites and blues? And how far from the surface are the 75% Blue and 50% White and 10" above the water slopped forward.

 

[JCastellano]

By sloped forward are you saying slightly tipped toward the front glass?

 

[clowndude]

I think a good thing to add to this thread is peoples input on how to acclimate corals to new LED.

How do people acclimate a tank from mh or t5 to LED. Normally this being the case someone changing over their light setup.

Second would be how to people go about a acclimation process if they bought a frag/colony and want to acclimate to their existing LED setup.

Would like to here from people that have experience on this subject matter and think other will find it helpful.

 

[chefmur]

I recently made the transition from halides to led a few months ago and could not be happier. I was running 3 250 watt 20K Radiums over a standard 150 gal tank. I prefer a bluer look so still had a few blue leds to make the corals colors pop. Growth was good and corals looked good but heat was awful, living in the south the tank heated up the back room of my house and although no chiller I had 4 fans running most of the year to keep the tank below 82.
It was time to renew the bulbs $300 so I decided to take the plunge, I bought 1 Radion gen2 and pulled out the center MH light just to see how it went, I noticed an immediate drop in temp and believe it or not saw better growth on my red planet which sits in the middle of my tank. I fell in love with the controllability as well using the Radion to slowly ramp up in the morning with high growth during the day and the blues kicking in late afternoon and evening letting me enjoy my coral corals when I come home from work.
I was so pleased I replaced the two end halides with the Radion Pros, yes they are pricy but I am very pleased so far. Awesome growth, better colors and a much cooler tank
I have had friends use cheaper led's and DIY units with mixed results, I am glad I went with the Radions and looking forward to being able to control them wirelessly hopefully soon.

 

[jdm1114]

wow

wow

here are a few pictures with the magenta stunner strips turned off. I think that is where i was getting the pink tint in my other pics. These colors look good on my monitor under a led lit tank.

your tank is inspirational!

 

[CHSUB]

First I want to say you have a beautiful set up and what I am about to write is not to pick things apart but to truly help on getting the beautiful tank successful.

So on 9/12 you had PE issues and your corals were browning and it looks like you were playing with vinegar. 1/13 you describe losing your half of your sps to high NO3 10-25PPM in addition to running leds and an eye-popping 100%. 3/17/2013 you state that your SPS were pale and you have lost most of them thus going back to MH. 4/1/2013 you replace a MP40 with a mp60. 4/9/2013 you still have high nitrates even they are lower than they were before. 4/10 you buy a bunch of maricultured corals and dip the bases in fresh water"¦ huh?

So based on that timeline since you changed LEDS you have lowered your nitrates and increased flow. I also observed that you purchased Maricultured corals and less than a month later you moved them at the top of your rocks. Furthermore previously you mentioned that you were running your lights at 100%.
So if you want my opinion and it is only my opinion:

1. You need to improve water quality and reduce nitrates. You P04 must be high even though you said 0 you had and unbelievable amount of macro algae. My cheato barley grows and even gets pale at times. Considering running Bio-pellets as a solution.
2. You were running your LEDS too high at 100%.
3. You don't acclimate your corals properly and if you are running your leds at 100% and moving your corals from the sand to the top in a couple of weeks you're going to have problems.
4. Some of the pictures you posted had flesh on top and nothing on the bottom which is an indication of Water quality issues and perhaps parasites.
5. You don't appear to have a proper dipping procedure.
6. You are purchasing Mari cultured corals which people have success but the two colonies I purchased RTN'd in a week for no reason.
7. Final observation you have an amazing tank but you are making many changes quickly and not following best practices.
8. I am very confident that it wasn't the light that killed the corals but would say led light at 100% will accelerate it.
9. Lower nutrients, More flow, and less intense lighting is what is giving you your current success but if you decide to swap out your MH and lower your intensity and properly acclimate your corals you will be successful.

good stuff and on point!!! however, some of the opinions and conclusions are incorrect with respect to my timeline and recent success.

lowering no3 is of great concern, however in 8 months it has gone between .2 and 10-25 ppm(closer to 10ppm). during one point no3 was .2 ppm while dosing vinegar and running my leds at 65%, corals where still showing poor color and pe. it was only very early that i ran my lights at 100%, quickly learning that was too much power.


3. You don't acclimate your corals properly and if you are running your leds at 100% and moving your corals from the sand to the top in a couple of weeks you're going to have problems.

you might be right on here, all my corals are from local frag farmers or DD who both use MH.

6. You are purchasing Mari cultured corals which people have success but the two colonies I purchased RTN'd in a week for no reason.

i'm having great success with maricultured coral now!

9. Lower nutrients, More flow, and less intense lighting is what is giving you your current success but if you decide to swap out your MH and lower your intensity and properly acclimate your corals you will be successful.

nutrients are as high now as ever, no3@ 5-10 ppm, po4@ <.04. yes, flow is stronger but only slightly. i'm not sure if leds run at 65% are more intense than 400w 10k MH?

my problems could have been something specific to the brand of lamp i was using? leds spaced to far apart and to much red spectrum? imo, without question it was the leds.

one thing is for sure, with nearly 40 sps' corals in my tank now; i'm not going back to leds....

 

[CHSUB]

You also increased your flow and lowered your nitrates.

You say " i'm yet to see a led lite tank that has sps' with colors and growth like i've seen and had with MH; and that includes the tanks here, although some are very close."

Are you talking about your old tank?

Lets be honest.

your current tank has my old tank beat, no question...but i will post some newer pics and we will see.....also remember that pic is from 2001!!!! what did your tank look like that long ago?

fyi, this tank used 175 w Mh and PC, wet/dry filter, air stone skimmer...